


Part of Your World

by LesbianLametron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Childhood Friends, Disney, First Kiss, Getting Together, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, disney zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 16:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18525157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianLametron/pseuds/LesbianLametron
Summary: As a child, young Shiro meets a young merman Lance. No one believes Shiro that merpeople are real, but Shiro doesn't care, he knows Lance is real. They meet years later when Lance saves Shiro from what should have a fatal accident. To Lance's horror, when Shiro wakes up on the beach, he doesn't remember him. Still, Lance would give anything to be part of Shiro's world, even if it means betraying his family.





	Part of Your World

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic from The Shance Disney Zine and is a Little Mermaid inspired AU. I hope you all like it!

Rumors and tales of mermaids were common in most coastal towns like the one where Shiro’s kingdom stood. They were no more than folklore to most, telling about beautiful, long-haired women with fish tails. Their voices were the most beautiful in the world and could put any man in a trance. 

Shiro had proof merpeople were more than folklore. This one was a he and was nothing like the stories. He could sing, yes, and the voice of an angel, but it didn’t put Shiro in a trance. The mermaid--or in this case--man’s voice did have a certain quality to it that calmed Shiro and put him at ease, but he was in control of his actions. This merman wasn’t even quite a man yet, but a boy around the same age as Shiro. He did in fact have a tail and it was the most beautiful part of him. Underwater, it showed every shade of blue, nearly blending in with the water, but the minute it hit the sun, the colors shifted to show brilliant violets and even hints of silver. Shiro could watch it flicker in the light all day. 

Their first meeting had been mostly accidental. Lance was young and had just discovered the wonders of the surface above Alfor’s kingdom. The first time he broke the surface on his own, he’d seen a young human from afar. This human had to be about his age and Lance was transfixed the moment he laid eyes on him. He was taught from birth that humans were dangerous, that he should keep his distance and he planned on that, at first. 

He’d been watching this boy for weeks and just couldn’t possibly see how he could be dangerous. Sure they were different, but would it be that bad for them to be friends? From what Lance had seen, this boy spent a lot of days on the beach by himself. Maybe that’s why Lance had been drawn to him in the first place. Being adopted had always made Lance feel like an outsider. Alfor had taken pity on Lance when he had lost his parents to shark attack and brought him to castle to live there. He raised Lance alongside his own daughter Allura, like he’d always belonged there. Yet, it never felt quite right to him. 

Lance would chalk it up to a mistake, he was only ten when they met after all, and had tried to sneak a closer look. Unfortunately he’d gotten too close and when the boy called out to him, he just couldn’t leave, he wanted to know what would happen. Beckoned forward by the possibility of more and those beautiful gray eyes, Lance swam to the shore. The water still divided them, but they found a way to build a bridge.

* * *

 

Shiro had snuck away from another one of Coran’s boring lessons, he wasn’t interested in learning about the kingdom or how a prince should act. After meeting Lance, it all seemed too trivial. He didn’t want to be a prince, but he was born into anyway. Most ten year olds would dream of ruling a kingdom someday, but Shiro knew how lonely it truly was. He was always in private lessons, learning to sail, studying history, and even self-defense. He was too precious to be in regular school with his peers. Lance had been the one thing that had shaken things up. 

Leaving his shoes at door, Shiro rushed to the shoreline, to their beach, one he had only found by accident. It housed their private lagoon, surrounded by trees from the outside. Lance was waiting for him the moment got there and his eyes lit up when Shiro appeared in the clearing. Those eyes, a beautiful swirl of turquoise that mirrored the shallows where they always met. As usual, Lance had brought his red satchel filled with treasures he’d found from shipwrecks. 

“What’s this one?” Lance asked eagerly as he laid a long, silver item with three prongs on one end. His tail flicked excitedly, spilling droplets of water onto the hot sand. 

Shiro smiled, gentle waves washing over his bare feet as he sat down on the shoreline. It was a constant reminder that they would always be separated. Shiro couldn’t survive underwater and part of Lance’s body always had to be touching it. “That’s called a fork. Humans use it to eat.” 

“You’re so weird. We just eat with our hands.”

“I mean we can, but it’s not ‘proper’,” Shiro rolled his eyes at the word proper and thought of the hours he’d spent learning to eat politely just to impress some dukes he wouldn’t care about. 

“Proper?” Lance raised an eyebrow and he pursed his lips, trying to conceptualize that word in his mind. 

“It’s stupid, something that adults do to make themselves look fancy and good for other people. It’s super boring. You know, princely things.” 

“Like showing up for one of Alfor’s singing performances and going to practices?”

Shiro nodded, always happy when Lance was able to understand something he taught him. “Exactly.” 

“I hate being proper then.” Lance said and Shiro laughed, he felt that so much and Lance just got him in way the other kids his age didn’t. He supposed it was because of Lance’s royal lineage. They were both princes, just one of an underwater kingdom and one of a surface kingdom. 

“A fork.” Lance mused, taking the object from Shiro, their fingertips brushing the process. Both smiled sheepishly and the tops of their cheekbones were dusted with pink, but neither commented on it. “I knew Lotor was making up names for these things. He’s my friend. He’s like me on top, but instead of just one tail, he has eight like an octopus and his skin is purple. We find things from shipwrecks together and we play a game trying to figure out what they do. He doesn’t know that I have you to tell me the truth.” 

“There are octopus mermen?” Shiro’s eyes lit up in fascination. He always loved the sea and dreamed of what could lie in its depths. Lance was so lucky he got see everything first hand. 

“Yeah, there are all kinds. My sister is like me, her tail is pink and she has long, beautiful white hair like her father. My other friend has a yellow and blue tail like a flounder. My father’s annoying advisor, Keith, has the bottom half of crab and pinchers like one too! He always threatens to use them if I don’t listen.” 

“And humans know nothing about all these creatures. Amazing. What do you think I would look like if I were like you?” 

Lance pursed his lips in thought again and then his eyes lit up, sparkling with a new idea. They reminded Shiro of the afternoon reflecting on the water like a million diamonds. “I could see you having a orca tail. That would look so good with your dark hair. I bet you’d be a really fast swimmer!”

“I’d love to be like you.” Shiro mused. 

“And I’d give anything to spend one day with you on land.” 

There were silent for a  few moments, both thinking of what it would be like to be the other, before  Lance spoke up again. “Oh! I almost forgot this one!” Lance reached into his bag one last time to pull out his favorite of the three things he found. It sparkled the minute it hit the sunlight and had strange way of opening, it reminded Lance of an alligator’s mouth, but with jewels on top instead. “What about this one?” 

“That’s more decorative. It’s used for the hair.” Shiro took a breath and stood up on his knees. He hesitated for a minute and bit his lip, deciding if he should really do this. Their friendship was fragile at best, but Shiro couldn’t help himself. They were young, but he still understood the concept of a crush. His heart was pounding as he leaned close to Lance, sliding the clip into place in the chocolate locks near his ear. “There.” 

Lance turned and looked at his reflection in the water and gasped. It looked so pretty there and he would have never known what it did without Shiro. The clip wasn’t from Shiro originally, but now, it felt like something special between them. He’d wear it everyday. “I love it!” 

“It looks good on you.” 

“Shiro? Where is that boy? He’s supposed to working his homework.” Shiro heard Coran’s voice cutting through trees and knew he had leave before they were discovered. He couldn’t image what the adults would do if they found out about Lance. Humans had a way of ruining beautiful things in the pursuit of knowledge. 

“I have to go. I’ll try and come see you tomorrow.” Shiro stood up and ran up the beach. 

Lance watched him go until he couldn’t see him any longer. His heart longed to follow, but he couldn’t leave the water. He didn’t have legs like Shiro. No matter how much he wished, he would never be truly part of Shiro’s world. If he had known that day, it would be the last time they would meet like this, he would have called after him, he would have begged him to stay.

* * *

 

That was the thing about growing up, of living in separate worlds, there came a time when childhood innocence and mermen had to be left behind. For months, Lance had come to their beach at the same time, late in the day just before the sun would set, but he was always alone. Shiro never came. Little did he know, Shiro had been put on stricter schedule and almost never left Coran’s side. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Lance, he was no longer allowed to go the beach on his own. It was for his own good, his parent said. He had a duty to his kingdom and he had to start acting like it. 

Eventually, Lance stopped coming to their place and tried his best forget about Shiro. Apparently Shiro wouldn’t see him again and he Keith started keeping an annoyingly close watch on him. Alfor had started to be concerned about his fascination with surface and forbade him to go there. but Alfor said it was for his own good. But Lance knew things could be different if Alfor would just try to understand him. 

So they grew apart, and those months of spending time with Shiro had just become a memory, a blip in a timeline. That was, until one fateful night. 

Lance was in his room after another boring night of meeting suitors. Alfor had been trying to shape him into the next king of the sea, but he didn’t want that. He didn’t care if the trident would give powers to control the sea, he only wanted the power to make Shiro come back to him. He looked out of the window and saw a strange shape passing overhead. It was accompanied by blurred, orange, purple, and gold lights. What would give off those kind of lights? 

Quickly, Lance glanced around his room and slipped out the window, swimming toward the surface as fast as his tail would carry him. He had to know, and there was a small hope inside him that told him he might find Shiro there. It was probably dumb and misguided, but Lance didn’t care. 

“Now, now, where are you going?” 

Lance looked behind him and saw Lotor catching up to him. “Oh, it’s just you. I thought you were Keith coming to bust me.” 

“No, but you wouldn’t be going to surface without me? Maybe I should tell your father.” 

Lance took Lotor’s tone as teasing, but Lotor didn’t mean it that way. He had only ever been using their friendship to get close to Alfor’s power. “Lotor, come on, I know you want to know as much as I do.”

“You caught me.” Lotor chuckled, putting up a friendly front, “so what do you think it is?” 

“I don’t know, but we have to find out!” 

Lotor followed Lance up to surface the they both gasped when they were met with an actual floating ship. They ones they had seen had always been broken and sunken to ocean floor. It turned out the strange lights were some kind of exploding stars being released from the boat. He tried to remember and remembered Shiro said they used those to celebrate. 

Lotor and Lance exchanged a look of delight and both swam closer to get a better look. Lance got there first and snuck a look through a porthole. People were dancing and music was playing, but Lance wasn’t focusing on that. He had to cover his mouth to stop the gasp from escaping. Off to the side, sat a young man with dark hair and stormy gray eyes. He was there, yet not quite a part of things, a feeling that was mirrored in Lance’s life all too often. He was older, taller, broader, but Lance would recognize him anywhere.  

“Oh? Quite handsome isn’t he?” Lotor commented, following Lance’s line of sight. 

“Yes, but that’s him. That’s Shiro. We were kind of friends when we were younger. I never told anyone, but I used to visit him everyday when we were young. He used to teach me about the surface. Then he stopped coming. I haven’t seen him in  _ years. _ ” Lance mused, more to himself than anyone else. 

“You told me you got your intel from a seagull.” Lotor commented, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Lance had human contact and never told him and jealousy started to grow in the pit of Lotor’s stomach. Lance had kept this from him for all this time.

“I know. I couldn’t tell anyone, what if Alfor found out? He already shackled me with Keith to stop me from going to the surface, but Shiro stopped coming anyway.”

The music on boat had stopped and Lance hushed any other protests that Lotor could have had to catch the conversation.    


“Well now, Shiro, it’s time to celebrate your birthday.” Without ever seeing him, Lance knew this older man was the ‘Coran’ Shiro had always talked about. We all hoped you’d give us a gift this year,” Coran paused, winking, “and give our kingdom their future queen. Or king if that’s your preference, maybe that’s why you’ve rejected all the girls we’ve tried to set you up with.”    
  
Shiro looked out into the sea and sighed, trying to find it within him to answer their question. He couldn’t tell them he was holding out for a merman he met in childhood. Time had tried to trick him, tried to tell him that Lance wasn’t real, just a childhood fantasy. Yet, deep down in his heart, he knew. He knew Lance was real and out there somewhere. “I don’t know, Coran, I just haven’t found the right person yet. I feel like when I see them, I’ll know.”    
  
“Shiro.” Lance whispered the name and felt good coming off his lips after so long. He hoped and wished that Shiro had been talking about him. It would be some indication, some validation that their past had been real. 

The moment was short lived because of a sudden rumbling in the clouds. He knew that was tell tale sign of storm and watched the clouds, transfixed for a moment. Usually during storms, he was always underwater since it was usually too dangerous. Lance was about to grab his Lotor and leave, even though everything in him was telling him to stay.

Suddenly, lightning struck down from the sky, hitting the very top of the ship—the mast, maybe Lance thought he what it was called—and caught fire. From everything he’d studied about humans, he knew about fire. It burned and for some reason, that could be both good and bad. The people on the ship looked panicked, scared even, and were leaving the big boat in a smaller one. Lance guessed this was one of the instances where fire was bad. 

But Shiro wasn’t getting off the ship, he had gone back to fetch the strange furry human. Lance didn’t quite get it, but for some reason that creature was very important to Shiro. The furry one managed to escape, but just as Shiro was about jump into the water, the whole ship exploded. Lance’s breath caught in his throat as He saw a piece of the ship hit Shiro on the head. he started sinking as soon as he hit the water. Lance didn’t know much about humans, but he did know couldn’t breathe water. Also with the level of blood in water, Lance knew sharks would be here any minute. He couldn’t let Shiro die. 

Without really thinking, Lance swam over to Shiro and wrapped his arms around him. All he focused on was swimming as fast as he could. Some would call it bravery, or maybe Keith would call it stupidity, but Lance didn’t think of either of those. He just acted. After all this time, he saw Shiro again and he wouldn’t lose him. Not this time. 

Finally they reached the shore, but Shiro was unconscious. From his face, Lance could tell that Shiro was in pain. He knew nothing about treatments or how to fix Shiro’s injuries, but he could do one thing. He laid Shiro down on the sand, lying next to him, and started singing a soothing lullaby, watching as the man’s face became slowly devoid of any pain.

* * *

The first thing Shiro became aware of when he started to stir was a soft, but breathtakingly beautiful song. Someone was singing to him, possibly and in his delirious state, the voice sounded so familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Slowly he opened eyes and he wanted to recognise this man, but it was it there was a void in his mind. Why couldn’t he remember this beautiful stranger? Why did he feel like he should? The song made him peace and in that moment those woes were going away.

Finally, their eyes connected and it took Lance’s breath away. He hadn’t looked in those eyes for so long that it almost hurt looking in them now. They brought up the pure  _ longing _ , that he had pushed down for all these years. He wanted Shiro to wrap his arms around him, to say his name, but something was wrong. There was no recognition dawning in those beautiful eyes, only confusion. 

“Who are you?” Shiro whispered. 

Lance pressed his lips together to try and keep in the tears. The debris and the fall must have hurt Shiro’s head. Either that or Shiro had just forgotten him after all this time. If that was the case, then Shiro hadn’t been thinking about them like Lance always did. Now wasn’t the time for that. He swallowed and retreated back into the water. Maybe it was better if they went on their lives as normal. 

Barely, Shiro registered that the man was leaving him.  _ No, don’t go.  _ He wanted to cry those words out, but his throat was too hoarse from swallowing sea water and his head was pounding so hard, he felt nauseous. He was too weak. By the time he was finally coherent enough, he was on the way to hospital. A wave of sadness washed over Shiro, he never got to thank the young man for saving him.

* * *

 

“Lance, I have a proposal for you.” Lotor turned to face his friend with a wicked smile stretched across his lips. 

“What is it?” 

“You want to be human, you want to see Shiro again, right?” 

Lance sighed and looked down, disappointed. “I don’t know, not if he doesn’t remember me.” 

“What if I could fix that problem and also give you legs?” 

“Really?” His eyes lit up in surprise and excitement. If Lotor could do that, he’d do anything. Deep in his heart he still harbored hope that Shiro had still been thinking about him in their time apart. 

“Well, my magic isn’t perfect or all powerful like Alfor’s, so I can only turn you human for three days. In those three days you have to make him fall in love with you. Well, he has to kiss you and only true love’s kiss will make you human forever.”

Forever, that was a long time and suddenly Lance was having doubts. “Then I won’t be able to see Hunk or Alfor or Allura again…”  

“Life’s full of tough choices, isn’t it? Either choose the potential love of your life or your family.” 

“So what happens if I don’t get the kiss?” 

“As your friend, I’ll telling you, you won’t want to find out. Every spell has its consequences.” 

He took a deep breath while trying to contemplate what to do, so many days he wished for something to let him live on land. He couldn’t just let this pass him by. 

“Okay. I’ll do it.” 

“Perfect, but you’ll need to steal Alfor’s trident for me. That’s my price.” Lotor smiled dangerously.

* * *

 

Lance knew this was a bad idea but he couldn’t pass up the chance. He took a deep breath and snuck into the throne room. The trident sat unguarded and dull in its stand. All Lance had to do was reach out and take it. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, readying himself to betray the man who raised him when no one else would.

“Lance. What are you doing?” 

Lance froze in place hearing Alfor’s voice echo in the empty room. He swallowed thickly and turned around. He couldn’t even come up with a lie, “I met someone,” he started and told Alfor everything. “I know it’s wrong, but I want to be with him.” 

Alfor let out a long sigh. While he was upset, he could see Lance wasn’t doing this out of anything evil or malicious, he just wanted to be part of the world he always loved. “You really do love him, don’t you.” 

“I do and I want to see him even if he won’t remember me.” 

“Then I’ll guess you’ll have to come with me.” 

Lance prepared himself for punishment as he followed Alfor and then was confused as they started swimming toward the surface. What was going on? 

When they broke the surface, Lance’s breath caught in his throat. Shiro was pacing the beach, illuminated in the moon’s silver glow. He had to restrain himself from actually sighing out loud. Shiro was so beautiful. 

“I don’t want you to have to take such drastic measures, Lance. I love you and I’ll miss you.” 

Alfor aimed his trident and Lance, casting a golden glow over the water around him. Lance watched in excited awe and felt a tingly warmth over his body. Instead of his blue tail, he now had a fitted, sparkling blue dress and legs. 

“Thank you...dad.” 

Shiro looked up when he heard something moving in the water. It was as if Lance had walked out from the depths and his dress was made out of the ocean itself. In that moment suddenly everything was clear. He ran out into waves, meeting Lance halfway, enveloping him into a tight hug. “LANCE! I thought I’d never see you again. I’m sorry I never came back.” 

“You remember.” Lance whispered with tears in his eyes. 

“How could I forget? There was not a day that has gone by that I haven’t thought about you....wait, you have legs now, how?” 

“They were a gift from my father. That’s basically his blessing.” Lance grinned and finally, finally leaned in to kiss him. There were so many things they needed to talk about, but right now none of them mattered. They were together now, for real, and Lance could finally be part of Shiro’s world. 


End file.
